The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Sparks' poor start dooms them vs. Lynx LYNX 84, SPARKS 77 Up next:
THE SCORE
Too little.
LOS ANGELES »
Too late.
The Sparks made a furious comeback in the fourth quarter, reduing a 20-point deficit to five points, but did not have enough time to overcome the Minnesota Lynx, falling 84-77 on Sun- day at Crypto.com Arena.
Sparks All-star forward Nneka Ogwumike’s 3-pointer with 1:05 to go made it 81-75 late in the fourth quarter. After a dou- ble technical foul, Ogwumike made two free throws to pull within five points.
“At the end, I’m always going to respect the call. I had just said that it had been happening the whole game so it escalated to a point where I got hit in the face and I don’t want to have to deal with that,” Ogwumike explained.
That was as close as the Sparks got. Ogwumike finished with a game-high 23 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.
“You can’t pick up any magical player to come in and do some things right now, so you have to run with the troops that you have,” Sparks interim head coach Fred Williams said after the
Sparks lost their second consecutive game since the team agreed to a “contract divorce” with center Liz Cambage. “I really thought they fought hard, trying to make plays and make things happen. They tried to show that, especially in the last four or five minutes of the game.”
The Sparks fell to 12-17 and the Lynx improved to 12-19. However, the Sparks still control their destiny in the eighth and final playoff spot, with seven games left in the regular season.
The Lynx were up by 16 points midway through the second quarter and led 5243 at halftime, draining 20 of 29 field goals (69%) in the first half. The Lynx finished the game shooting 54.4% from the field.
By comparison, the Sparks shot only 36.1% from the field, making 30 of 86 shot attempts.
Before the game, the Sparks honored Lynx center Sylvia Fowles, who is retiring from the WNBA after 15 seasons.
Fowles accepted flowers then showed her gratitude by letting her presence be known early and often. The 6-foot-6 center and two-time WNBA champion scored eight points in the first four minutes of the game. Fowles finished with 16 points and nine rebounds in 22 minutes. She made 8 of 9 shot attempts, shooting a gamehigh 88.9% from the field.
Lynx head coach and general manager Cheryl Reeve said her team has learned to manage its emotions when it comes to Fowles’ final season.
“It’s now a little more customary. All this ‘For Syl’ stuff can be draining on the others and it was in the beginning,” Reeve said. “We’ve gotten to a place where we know and players will say it, if I think I’m a little too tired to do something or if I’m a little, we’ve said that, when you feel like that, I want you to think of Syl.
“Syl is sprinting to the finish line and we need to do the same thing with her. We’re running with her to the finish line. It’s not her trying to do this by herself. I think those emotions have been managed pretty well.”
“Sylvia Fowles is just a legend inside the paint,” Williams said when asked about the 2017 WNBA MVP.
However, it was Lynx point guard Moriah Jefferson’s 16 points in the first half that gave them an unexpected spark. Jefferson finished with a team-high 22 points and four assists.